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H O L I D A Y E D I T I O N
September 1, 2016
A Celebration of Italy
ON THE INSIDE
La Festa draws vendors from around the region
Around Town
The latest happenings in our area Page 2
School News
What’s going on with your favorite student Page 18
Recipes from Helen’s Titchen
Try some of these tasty recipes Page 21
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Dr. Anthony
MAIN STREET, ARCHBALD • 570-876-6722 DECARLIDENTISTRY.COM
by Caitlin West STAFF WRITER
The tastes and traditions of Italy will draw in thousands from up and down the valley and beyond over Labor Day weekend as the 41st La Festa Italiana takes over downtown Scranton. The annual gathering of food vendors, live music — including The Duprees and The Cameos — children’s activities, yoga, fireworks and more celebrating all things Italian runs around Lackawanna County Courthouse Square on Friday, Sept 2, from 4-10 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 3 and 4, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Monday, Sept. 5, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Admission is free. Luigi’s Pizza of Olyphant has been in business for 31 years and has had a stand at La Festa for four of those. “If you live in the area, you can’t miss La Festa,” said Vincenzo Cicco, son of the eatery’s owner. “So I’ve been going there for years, and then being that my family’s in the restaurant business, it had always been a goal of mine to have a (Luigi’s) stand down there.” It took him a bit of time to work out the logistics of getting into the popular festival, which features vendors not only from Northeast Pennsylvania and elsewhere in the state but also Florida, Maryland, New Jersey and New York City. Eventually, Cicco said, he was “honored to be able to participate. It was hard there for quite a few years to get involved because all the spaces were taken.” Using Cicco family recipes, Luigi’s will serve traditional Italian dishes such as pizza, lasagna, stuffed shells, eggplant rollatini and tripe. Cicco said penne alla vodka is its most popular dish. Family-recipe foods also will highlight the offerings at La Rosa Italiana. A Salerno, Italy, native who moved to the United States 25 years ago, Silvia Bilbao sells her homemade gnocchi, sausage and peppers, stromboli, calzones and cannolis. She starts cooking the dishes
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La Festa Italiana in downtown Scranton at dusk.
— which include 500 lasagnas — three weeks before the festival. Her stand offers old Italian traditions, said Bilbao, an Old Forge resident who has been a La Festa vendor for 21 years. “We have every year more and more clients,” she said. “When we started, not much people. Every year, we get more and more people. Everybody loves the food.” In addition to her husband, Bilbao said her three daughters, son and sister help at the stand, with some coming from as far as California and Florida. “It’s a family reunion, too, you know,” she said. Participating in La Festa has become a family affair for the Everetts as well. A.J. and Amy Everetts of South Abington Township will once again dish out their Rosati’s Italian Ice, which they began selling at La Festa four years ago as a way to help pay for their wedding. They figured they would try selling Italian ice and ended up getting a spot in La Festa, which
Amy Everetts said did not have many Italian ice vendors. Their ice comes from Josie’s Italian Ice in Kingston, a treat shop owned by A.J. Everetts’ father, Al, who works for Rosati’s, Amy Everetts said. “We’ve started getting recognized and getting repeat customers that come up to us every year. First year, we put out a tip jar that said, ‘Help us pay for our wedding.’ (Now) every year we have another kid with us,” the mother of two said with a laugh. “We’re literally becoming a family business.” Their extended family helps work the cart during the long weekend, doling out ice blended with real fruit in a range of flavors, some of which tie in to La Festa’s Italian focus. “We always have really unique flavors,” Everetts said. “We always try and come up with something. We have everything from cotton candy to mango to rainbow to chocolate to cannoli.” Please see LA FESTA, Page 27